Artemis Fowl and the Magicacareo
by Vexx Scalemark
Summary: Artemis is suffering from a bizarre illness that might be fatal. When Holly comes to help, she and Artemis travel to Haven and, with the help of Foaly, attempt to find a cure for Artemis' ailment. However Artemis and Holly may find more than just a cure.
1. Chapter 1: Holly

**Hey Guys, this is my first attempt to write a Fanfic though I've thought about it quite a bit. For the purpose of this story we will pretend that Opal was successfully apprehended at the end of AFTP. I have the story all worked out but it might take me a while to get it down on paper. I welcome comments but I'm not sure if I will always have time to respond to them because my computer time is limited. Anyways I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Scandinavia

5000 feet in the air, Holly short flew along the coast of Norway enjoying a brief period of respite before she had to return to the L.E.P. and resume her duties. She flew lower, scanning the ocean underneath her. A few dolphins saw her and did a few flips in the air. Holly gave a sad smile in return. She enjoyed her trips to the surface but each visit was permeated with sadness. The People had not lived above ground for many millennia, forced to retreat to their underground haven due to the rising human population.

Still not all Mudmen are bad thought Holly. Just think of Artemis.

Artemis. The thought of the genius boy still caused a pang in her stomach. She wasn't really sure how she felt about him anymore. They where friends, but mixed in with their friendship was a cloud of more complicated emotions. He had deceived her, used her emotions to gain her help in his latest plot. And even while it had been with his mother at heart, it had hurt to know that Artemis had thought she would not have helped him willingly. Then there was what had happened when they went back in time. When she had kissed...

In the air, Holly shook her head. She didn't want to think about that right now. She was on the surface and she wanted to enjoy that while she could.

"Caught in fantasies Major?" Said a voice in her ear.

"I'm on my way to the site right now Foaly."

"Really? You appear to be drifting out to sea."

Holly scowled and quickly corrected her course. It didn't due to give Foaly more fodder to taunt her with.

"I was just checking out the reef." Said Holly. It wasn't like her to get distracted on the job.

"Sure," said Foaly (Holly could just see that smug little smile on his face right now). "Just make sure you don't enjoy yourself to much Holly."

Inside her helmet, Holly smiled. She wasn't fooling anybody. Foaly knew full well that she had assigned this mission to herself to get out of the office. She had expected a drop in aboveground missions after she had accepted the promotion to major, but in five months since she had started her duties as major, she hadn't done anything outside of work at her desk. This mission was her vacation from the stacks of paperwork she had to get through.

"Stupid L.E.P. bureaucracy." Holly muttered under her breath. Still she had made a promise to do her duty to the people after Commander Root had died, even if that meant giving up some personal freedoms and dealing with all of the unpleasantries.

A little red dot blinked on the navigation screen, signaling that she was approaching her destination. Holly flew low over the ground; double-checking that she had her shield on and also that the suits cameo function was working. A technical genius Foaly might be, but Holly had experienced a failure in his equipment before and she was not about to take the suits functions for granted.

She landed in the midst of a dense forest next to a towering old oak. Holly took of her helmet and breathed in the night air. Nearby a stream meandered softly through the brush. This was what Fairies lived for. Holly went up to the oak and touched her fingers to the bark. Even though it wasn't a full moon she could still feel the dull throb of magic in her veins. She closed her eyes for a moment enjoying the senses of the world around her.

"Better hop to it Holly. We're on the clock here." Said Foaly's voice from her earpiece.

Holly nodded and took a slender metal pole from her bag. In recent times the deforestation frenzies of the Mudmen had caused many magical sites like this one to become none-existential. To combat this, Foaly had designed a device that emitted pulses of high frequency noise, filling the air for several hundred feet in either direction, which acted somewhat like the mesmer. When a human heard it they would become distracted, filled with a sudden fear of danger in the general area. The theory behind this was that the surveyors for the logging companies would report back that the area was unfit for logging which would keep the forest relatively free of Mudmen infestations. The pole was designed to look like a normal survey rod with an orange band on the top.

Holly put the pole into the earth near the base of the oak and then twisted the top to activate it. Although she herself was unaffected, the trees around her was suddenly filled with the screeches of birds fleeing to less noisy areas.

"Sorry guys." said Holly picking up her bag wings and helmet. She strapped up, put on her helmet and took off into the air gliding back out to the coast.

Her earpiece gave a sharp crackle of static startling her slightly.

"Foaly?" She said.

"Sorry," said Foaly sheepishly "I dropped my mike."

Holly laughed. Down in Haven Foaly gritted his teeth.

"Hardly the most glamorous job for a L.E.P. Major is it?" Said Foaly trying to change the subject.

"You know perfectly well that I took this mission to get out of the office for a while."

"But I thought you enjoyed the office." Said Foaly in mock surprise.

"You might want to drop the mike again before I decide to get down there and kick your hairy behind." Said Holly.

"There's the Holly I know and love." Said Foaly. "But seriously, you've been too uptight at work. Enjoy your flight home."

Now it was Holly's turn to act surprised. "Concerned for me? You aren't going soft on my are you Foaly." She heard a block of static that sounded like Foaly had snorted into the microphone. "Ok, ok. See you when I get back."

For several minutes Holly flew in peace, admiring the glistening of the moon on the rough waves below. She wondered what it would be like to live above ground but she knew it could never happen not with the number of Mudmen that occupied the earth. It was not in their nature to accept things like Fairies and the People, being for the most part peaceful, would not win a battle with them. So secrecy it had to be sighed Holly.

Holly was interrupted in her musings by a small flashing mail icon the corner of the helmets screen.

"Foaly can you move this to my office computer? I don't want to think about work right now."

"Um. I think you might want to read this Holly." Said Foaly "Its from Artemis."

Holly felt her heart rate speed up. Artemis almost never contacted her inanely. If he had sent her a message it probably meant that there was some kind of trouble.

She opened the massage. It was a single word: "help". She felt her stomach drop.

"Holly?" Asked Foaly sounding worried.

Holly ground her teeth. This was NOT what she needed right now.

"Get me all of the emails from Artemis that are in my inbox." She said.

She had received three emails from Artemis since she had last seen him after the opal incident. One she had opened but the other two were still sitting in her inbox. Holly hadn't gotten around to reading those because her work kept her to busy for anything else and both had been marked as non urgent so she had set them aside.

"On it."

There was the sound of a keyboard and in a little under 3 seconds the emails where scrolling on the screen in front of her.

00000

**Message 1**

Dear Holly,

First allow me to say congratulations on your promotion to major. I can say that you out of anyone deserve it the most. Anyways I have been feeling odd recently and I thought that it might be a side effect of the time tunnel. I wonder if you could put me in contact with Foaly and we could discuss it. It's probably nothing but I just want to be sure.

Artemis

**Message 2**

Dear Holly,

Sorry to bother you again but I'm afraid my condition has deteriorated quite rapidly. I am starting to experience curious pains that I'm not quite sure how to describe. I think I have ruled out most ailments and diseases and my physician says I'm perfectly healthy. Please contact me or have Foaly contact me when you get a hole you your work.

Artemis

00000

"D'arvit!" Holly swore. She keyed in the coordinates of Fowl Manor into her navigation screen and changed course mid air.

"Holly, you aren't cleared for more surface time."

"I know Foaly. But you know I have to go."

"Yes." Said Foaly softly. "I know."

For the love of Frond, Artemis had better really be in trouble thought Holly.


	2. Chapter 2: Artemis

**I forgot to add the obligatory disclaimer last time. I do not own Artemis Fowl or any of the characters used in this story. Anyways, same thing as last time, Hope you like the story and I welcome comments (even the ones to correct my errors).**

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Fowl Manor (2 days earlier)

Artemis Fowl sat at his desk in the study pondering over the Corriere della Sera, the Evening Courier, one of Italy's leading newspapers and 84th largest newspapers in the world. He was looking for a particular piece regarding one of his most recent endeavors. He did not have to look far either. Just below the headlines (regarding the passing of the Italian Prime minister) was a long piece on the right hand side, the title of which read

"**New Raphael Unveiled At Uffizi Gallery!"**

Artemis allowed himself a small smile of triumph.

Although, he thought, a five-century-old painting can hardly be considered "new". Perhaps "previously undiscovered" but certainly not new.

In recent times Artemis had occupied a Robinhood-like presence in the art world, acquiring rare paintings from private collections and then donating them to various museums and public galleries around the world. Although the paintings were not always removed with the consent of the owner, the Raphael had been a completely legitimate transaction. Artemis had purchased the painting at private auction from the owner of a large American legal firm. Artemis saw these ventures as an excellent way to vent his criminal genius with little harm to anyone.

Honestly, he thought, who needs a multi million-dollar painting collecting dust on the wall?

Artemis cast a final glance at the article and then got up from his chair. He gritted his teeth as a wave of pain passed over him from the movement. Gasping slightly he gripped the desk tightly to keep himself upright as the fit passed.

"Really, this is becoming ridiculous." Muttered Artemis under his breath.

He had taken a pain tablet a little under a few hours ago and already the effects were wearing off. He had started experiencing random fits of pain for seemingly no reason a few months ago. Despite the pain, his personal physician had been unable to locate a problem, telling Artemis that he was as healthy as a gymnast and was simply suffering from a severe case of growing pains.

Healthy as a gymnast, that had made him laugh. He ought to be at least as healthy as any acrobat in the business after training with Butler regularly for the past five months. The bodyguard had decided that, given his own loss of vitality, he might not be as effective at protecting Artemis as he had once been. Therefore he had put Artemis on a regular training schedule so that, if need be, Artemis could defend himself in a tight situation. Artemis's free time was now permeated with intervals of Fencing, Martial Arts, Basic Training, and Yoga.

"Yoga?" Artemis had said. "Butler, really. I hardly think yoga will be useful when confronting a mercenary."

"Your body needs to be nimble as well as strong Artemis." Butler had said. "Raw strength is useless if your body is too locked up to use it"

"True, but I doubt an assassin would bother with fists. Firearms seem like a far more effective method of terminating a target"

"You might be surprised. A good assassin will use all of the tools available to them which means that in defending yourself you should have all of these tools as well"

Of course Artemis had protested, but Butler would not be dissuaded.

"My job, much as you might try to undermine it, is to protect you as best I can and you learning how to protect yourself is as important to your safety as I am."

" I can always hire more body guards to protect me." Artemis had said.

Butler had grinned.

"Knowing you as I do, you will not always be in a situation where you have a Body Guard on hand"

And so the training had persisted with Artemis unable to construct a decent argument against it.

Another wave of pain racked Artemis's body.

Definitely not growing pains, he thought.

Raw pain he felt he could have dealt with. But, each spasm brought on a buzzing headache, thumping in his ears, and nausea that was slow in fading. He found it very difficult to concentrate after one of these episodes.

Butler entered the room, looked around, and then came over to where Artemis was standing next to his desk

"Are you alright Artemis? You look pale."

"I'm fine old friend." Said Artemis with a small smile "My work has me a little tired at the moment."

"And what are you working on today? Not more art heists I hope"

"Well it is art," said Artemis handing Butler the newspaper. "But no. No heist this time"

"Ah yes, the Raphael. Soon there will be nothing left for the rich men of the world to display in their homes."

"Perhaps," said Artemis. "But I think I can still find a few"

"I wouldn't doubt it." Said Butler good humouredly "Anyways your parents sent me to find you. They want to say goodbye to you before they leave."

"Tell them I'll be right there." Said Artemis. "I just need to go up to my room for a moment"

He turned and walked out of the study leaving Butler standing next to the desk pensively.

Artemis hadn't been himself recently. This was not the first time Butler had found him pale and out of sorts. It was not like Artemis. Butler was worried about his young charge, but he didn't want to confront Artemis with the matter.

If he needs help, he'll tell me. Besides, thought Butler, Artemis is probably just worried about whatever scheme he's currently concocting.

* * *

Up in his room Artemis retrieved a bottle of pain medication from the drawer beside his bed and sat down to swallow one of the pills. He had considered talking to Butler or his parents about the pain, but he didn't want to worry them with what was probably just a passing illness.

Besides, he thought standing up, He had emailed Holly and told her about the problem so he ought to be contacted by either her or Folly any day now. It worried him slightly that he had not heard back from them yet. His last message had been sent over a fortnight ago. He knew that they where both busy with their work, especially Holly, who had been promoted to major. Still, it bothered him that Holly had ignored his last two messages. He considered Holly to be his best friend and he fervently hoped that nothing had happened to her to prevent her from contacting him.

He shook his head. He was being irrational. If something had happened somebody would have contacted him. He let a small sigh of relief escape him as he felt the medication beginning to work. He strode out of the room and headed down to the entrance hall to say farewell to his parents.

Down in the entrance hall his mother stood by the door watching while Artemis Fowl Sr. attempted to assist the limousine driver in loading their luggage into the car. The limousine driver was resisting help out of professional courtesy and was trying to tell Artemis Sr. to relax and that he would take care of their things.

The resurgence in the ability to use his legs had caused quite a change in Artemis's father. In addition to reforming his criminal ways, Artemis Fowl Sr. had become a much more robust and personal character and also to a loving father. Even now it was difficult for Artemis to connect the cold father from his childhood to the one he saw in front of him today.

Artemis walked down the stairs and joined his mother at the front door. Angeline Fowl smiled up at her son.

"I told your father to let the driver just go about his business but he won't listen to Me." She whispered. "Oh well. I suppose that the driver will just have to put up with him."

Out on the lawn the driver was not putting up with him. He was slightly red beneath the collar and was trying to remain calm as he explain that if Artemis Sr. did not get out of his way they would be late to the airport and miss their jet. Artemis Sr. put his hands up in defeat and walked back towards his wife and son. At a glance he moved as if he had never even lost his legs.

"Quite a disagreeable fellow." Artemis Sr. sounding not at all troubled by the "disagreeable" limousine driver.

"Well maybe if you would let him do his job dear." Said Angeline with a smile.

His father gave a noncommittal grunt and Artemis permitted himself a small smile.

"Are you absolutely sure you don't want to come with us Arty?" asked his mother.

"Yes mother," said Artemis. "I have too much work to do"

His mother frowned slightly.

"Come on Angeline," said his father. "He's old enough to decide what's best for himself." He leaned over to her and said with a wink "besides that leaves more time for us."

"Alright. Well, we will be back in a week and the Nanny has the twins." Said his mother giving him a hug. "Just try not to work to hard."

"He'll be fine," said his father with a wink at Artemis. "Besides, Butler will be here"

His parents began to head down the steps toward the open door of the limousine.

"Bye Mom. Bye Dad." said Artemis struggling to get the words out. It still felt odd to refer to his parents in such an informal manner.

They smiled, giving him a jovial wave each, and soon the limousine was rolling down the gravel drive.

Artemis watched until the limo went out of the gate and rounded the corner. Then he went back into the house and closed the door. All of the sudden Artemis felt incredibly tired. Perhaps he should have gone with his parents.

Maybe I ought to go lie down, He thought surprised by how tired he felt.

He made it up the stairs to his room and collapsed onto the bed, a dull throb sounding in his ears. He closed his eyes and fell asleep instantly.

* * *

The next mourning, Artemis was awoken by a sharp rap on the bedroom door.

"Come in Butler." Said Artemis

Butler entered the room looking distraught.

"Artemis something urgent has just come up. I need to leave for a few days to..."

Then Butler caught sight of Artemis's face.

"Are you ok Artemis?" He asked sounding alarmed.

"I'm fine Butler. I'm just a little tired. I didn't sleep well." Said Artemis. "What's happened old friend?"

"Juliet. She's been injured in a street fight in L.A. She's in the hospital right now. " He said quickly. "I was going to say that I needed to go see her but maybe I should stay here." He said with a worried glance at Artemis.

"Really, I'm fine Butler." Said Artemis. "I'm just a little under the weather. Go see your sister"

Butler cast an appraising eye over Artemis. He certainly did not look fine. But Juliet...

"I'll be back as soon as I can." He said. And left the room quickly.

Artemis shifted and sat up in bed only to be immediately knocked back down as a fresh wave of pain and headaches hit him. He gritted his teeth, the pain was getting worse. He reached for his pain medication and managed to swallow a pill. He waited, gasping, while the medicine took its effect. The pain went down but was not entirely abated. He groaned as he got out of bed and stumbled his way to the washroom. Maybe he would spend the day looking up obscure diseases.

Throughout the rest of the day the pain continued to get worse. The pain medication no longer had any effect at all. Soon his condition had deteriorated to the point where he could not move at all. 7 o'clock found Artemis curled up on his bed, shivering as spasms of pain racked his body.

"I need help."

This thought managed to pierce the fog of pain that was clouding his mind. If this continued he was sure he would die. The body can only take so much strain.

"AAARRRGG!" Cried Artemis as his head gave a nasty throb that felt like someone was driving a needle through his scull.

He fell out of bed with a crash to the floor. He needed help. But, nobody was home. No Butler. No Parents. Not even the Twins were home. There was nobody who could help him now. He began to panic slightly.

Don't panic, he thought. Panic will not help you now

He opened his eyes a crack and spotted his laptop sitting on the table next to the mirror.

Holly! He could send Holly a message. Holly would be able to help him.

It was his only hope. He clawed his way along the floor, each movement bringing more pain to his body. Sweat poured from him, dripping down his face as he managed to lift himself by the chair up to the table. The laptop was still on from when he had used it earlier. He clicked on the mail icon and scrolled down to Holly's name. He could see black approaching the edges of his vision and his legs weakened. His fingers scrambled over the keyboard, typing nonsense. He hit the delete bar, now delirious with pain. The black was filling his field of vision. He typed 4 letters "h" "e" "l" "p", hit send, and then collapsed, shivering, onto the floor.


	3. Chapter 3: Sparks

**A lot of people have been saying that there are grammar mistakes in the first chapter. I'll tell you right out. I SUCK at grammar. If it weren't for spell check this would probably all be illegible. The bottom line is that I'm not going to be able to fix these mistakes on my own. It's not because I don't care, it's because I won't be able to _find_ them on my own. So if you see a mistake _please_ tell me so that I can go back and fix it. That being said: I don't own anything, enjoy the story, I like reviews, yadda yadda yadda...**

* * *

Dublin

Holly flew with the thrusters set at maximum speed high above the ground, watching low clouds fly past her through the helmets visor. The readout on the nave-map said that she was just over ten miles away from Fowl Manor. Almost there.

"Ok," said Foaly in her ear, "Trouble's not happy about it, but he cleared you for a few more hours of above ground time. I told him you had personal business to attend to. I think he understands."

Holly blew air through her cheeks. "Alright, I'm approaching the target now"

She flew in a wide arc, air streaming past the shimmer suit as she dove through the cloud cover. Straight ahead, Fowl Manor loomed like a giant fortress in front of her. She flew over the high pentagonal outer wall and lighted on the lawn stowing her wings.

"Be careful Holly," advised the centaur. "Lets try to avoid another 'save the world' dilemma here"

"Hopefully this will all just be straightforward." Said Holly.

Foaly snorted into the mike, blasting her with static.

"Like anything connected to Artemis is ever straightforward."

Holly strode forward and went up to the door of the manor. Ordinarily Artemis would have already greeted her by now. She went up to the door waiting for him to open it and great her.

A minute passed with Holly standing, taping her foot on the steps flanking the door. Holly knocked on the door and looked in the window. No sign of Artemis anywhere.

Now seriously worried, Holly removed the Omni tool from her equipment belt and stuck the prong into the lock. Nothing happened. She stowed the Omni tool and looked around. There on the wall was a complex keypad and finger-scanning device.

She sighed. Of course Artemis would have put the highest-level security on his house. "Foaly, can you get me in?"

"What, he invites you over then locks the door?" he said.

"Just get me in, Foaly. This is serious."

"Ok, Ok. Just put your hand on it. I can probably get it from here."

Holly put her hand on the gel fingerprint scanner and tiny Omni sensors in her the fingertips of her suit connected to it, uploading all the information to the Foaly's computer.

"Devilish little caveroach, he put an indefinite matrix on here." complained Foaly (Holly opened her mouth to tell Foaly to get his butt in gear). "Hang on, I think I can bypass it."

A further minute of clicking and the door swung open ("Ha!" said Foaly). Holly rushed into the entrance hall with her Neutrino drawn. No sign of Artemis anywhere.

"Artemis?" she said cautiously, silence answering her back.

She set the visor to a thermal scan. There! On the third floor the thermal indicated a single person in one of the upper bedrooms.

Holly leaped up the stairs and raced down the hallway to the door the thermal had indicated. She stopped next to the door and set the Neutrino to the max setting. She had no idea what to expect. While the thermal showed all heat sources it could still be fooled and had been fooled before. Anything could be waiting for her in there.

The door was slightly ajar which could mean several things. Maybe Artemis had simply never bothered to close it. Or maybe someone was expecting her. In Holly's experience an open door was never a good sign. Hostages tended to be kept behind locked doors.

Holly nudged the door open with her foot, Neutrino drawn, and stepped into the room. At first she didn't see anybody in the room. She walked further into the room before she spotted a dark mass in the corner. Artemis was on the floor beside a table shivering lightly.

Holly felt years of professional experience drop from her like a discarded towel.

"Artemis!" She cried.

The Neutrino clattered to the floor as she rushed over to Artemis. She flipped him over but he did not respond to her touch.

"Foaly! Something's wrong with Artemis!" She shouted into her mike.

"No need to shout Holly. I'm right here," said Foaly. He typed something into the computer and Holly's helmet performed a few scans. "It looks like he's in a coma."

"What's wrong with him?" Breathed Holly her eyes darting over Artemis's tense frame.

"I don't know," replied Foaly. "Magic first, ask questions later. His vitals are dropping fast."

Holly nodded, biting her lip. She removed her helmet to better assess the situation. Artemis was deathly pale. He needed a shot of magic _now._ She twisted her chin sharply to the left until her neck clicked, summoning her magic. She could feel the power in her veins. A few stray blue sparks rolled down her arms. She placed her hands on Artemis's chest.

"Heal." She breathed.

Sparks jumped down her arms and across her fingertips like a river, sinking into Artemis's body. The instant the sparks touched him Artemis let out an ear-piercing scream, convulsing underneath her grip. Holly was so surprised that she almost lost her grip. She was about to lift her hands away and cancel the magic when Foaly spoke in her ear.

"Don't stop!" He ordered. "I don't know why he's reacting this way but the sparks are still doing their job. If you remove the magic now the shock of the transition could kill him."

Holly redoubled her grip upon Artemis, forcing the magic to keep flowing. Under her Artemis's back arched in agony.

Give him everything, thought Holly, every last spark.

She searched her body, getting every spark of magic from her ears to her toes and feeding them into Artemis. The last spark rolled down her fingers. Artemis was now covered in leaping sparks, seeking out tears in his tissue, repairing muscle damage, and stopping internal hemorrhaging.

Holly stepped back. She was completely dry. She doubted whether she even had enough magic to shield.

On the floor Artemis began spasming and his yells became louder.

"He's going into shock," said Foaly. "You need to hold him down. The sparks wont do him any good if he snaps his neck thrashing around like that."

Holly spun herself around behind Artemis. Bracing herself, she grabbed Artemis by the arms held him down, his head clutched in-between her legs to stop it from flailing from side to side. Shudders from his body ricocheted up her arms rattling her teeth. She had to hang on. Holly considered Artemis one of her best friends She didn't know what she would do if something happened to him.

More tremors passed through Artemis and, through him, Holly. Slowly, the shaking became weaker and Artemis's yells dropped. Then all was quiet. Holly got slowly to her feet. She felt exhausted. Artemis was now relatively calm and some color was even returning to his cheeks.

Holly gave a sigh of relief; it was over.

Artemis coughed and heaved slightly. Recognizing the signs, Holly pushed him onto his side just before he retched onto the carpet.

Well, she thought grimacing; I guess that's to be expected after what he's just gone through.

Artemis groaned whipping his mouth on his sleeve and sat up. He opened his eyes and focused on Holly.

"Holly." He said quietly. "You came."

Holly gave a wide smile. A single tear ran down her cheek.

"Of course I came for you Artemis." She said. "I couldn't let you die very well could I? Who would help me save the world?"

Artemis smiled and tried to get up. He stumbled and fell back down again. His limbs felt like they were full of lead. The sparks may have repaired the damage to his body but he had burned all of his energy thrashing around.

"Come on." Said Holly helping Artemis to his feet. "You should go get cleaned up"

"Ah yes." He said glancing down at the mess he had made on the carpet and then, regretfully, at his own sweat-soaked clothes. "I appear to have ruined a few of my possessions."

Artemis gathered a new outfit from his wardrobe and headed off to the washroom stumbling slightly on the carpet.

"Well... That was exciting" interjected Foaly who had remained surprisingly quiet throughout the ordeal.

"That's one way of putting it." Said Holly as she gathered her helmet and Neutrino and set them on the bed. "So what happened to him?"

"I'm not sure," said Foaly through a clenched jaw. He hated to admit there was something that he didn't know. "It's not a run-of-the-mill illness that's for sure. The symptoms are common enough for a seizure or a similar abnormality, but the way he reacted to magic..."

Foaly trailed off leaving Holly to her own thoughts. She heard the sound of a shower being turned on in the other room. It was definitely not normal the way Artemis had been caused pain when the sparks had touched him. Yet, he seemed ok now. Maybe the healing had cured whatever was wrong with Artemis.

"Well I guess I should head back down." Said Holly

"No." said Foaly thoughtfully. "Not just yet. I don't think what's wrong with Artemis was fixed by the healing, just abated."

"So what do you propose we do about it?" asked Holly.

"Well..." Said Foaly slowly. "I think your going to have to bring him down here. I need to examine him personally. His reaction to magic seems familiar for some reason."

Holly mulled it over in her mind. The last thing she needed now was to jeopardize her career by disobeying another order. Artemis might really be in trouble though.

"What about the Council? Or Trouble?" asked Holly. "And I don't know if I can get him down there. The wings are almost out of charge."

"I spoke to Commander Vinyáya" said Foaly. "She thinks that in light of Artemis's past assistance she can pull a few strings. And there's an unused cargo shuttle in bay 139. I have Mulch on standby. He can take the shuttle right up to the manor if he has to."

Holly thought for a moment. It sounded like a fairly sound plan except for where Mulch was concerned.

"Can't we get anyone else to drive the shuttle?" Pleaded Holly, remembering as she did so the damage that had been done to the last shuttle Mulch had piloted.

"Sorry." Said Foaly who did indeed sound legitimately regretful. "Vinyáya wants to keep it under wraps. We can't pull anyone else off the job. Besides you can pilot it back down. Mulch just has to get it up there."

"_If _Mulch can get it up here in one piece." Said Holly grumpily. Still, it sounded like the best way to make sure Artemis was ok. "Alright go ahead and send it up."

"I'm giving Mulch the go-ahead. He should be there in an hour or two."

"See you soon" said Holly taking off the earpiece and placing it next to the rest of her equipment.

Holly sat down on the bed and closed her eyes.

Another disaster adverted, she thought. I wish just once I could have a normal visit when I get a call from Artemis.

She snorted: Artemis normal. Yah right.


	4. Chapter 4: The Dream

**Thanks for all of the grammar help everybody. I'll go back and update those chapters as soon as I can. I start school again tomorrow so I probably won't be updating every day any more. I'll still try to update every couple of days though. I'm kind of winging this and writing it as I go, chapter by chapter. I have the bones of the story; I just need to put meat on them. Anyways please enjoy this next chapter (it's a bit longer than the others, I didn't want to cut off the good part) and keep up the reviews.**

* * *

Fowl Estate.

Holly and Artemis stood on the lawn side by side watching with apprehension as a shuttle, driven by their kleptomaniac dwarf friend Mulch, rocked through the air in an attempt to land beside them. The shuttle gave another alarming lurch as it passed over the low wall, narrowly avoiding confrontation with one of the parapets.

"Good God, he'll kill us all." Said Artemis.

The shuttle came to shuddering halt at the foot of the grass leaving Holly and Artemis a good meter of elbowroom between them and it.

"Mulch!" Shouted Holly angrily, banging on the door of the shuttle. "Who taught you how to fly?"

The door slid open revealing a smiling dwarf who might have passed for a very small man were it not for his tangles of wild hair and his wide tombstone teeth.

"Taught?" He said. "Why, nobody taught me Holly. All of my considerable skill comes from my natural genius."

Holly snorted as she pushed her way past Mulch into the shuttle. "Skill huh? The computer says you hit the cave wall several times and knocked off one of the stabilizers."

Mulch threw his hands into the air. "Look I got it up here didn't I? A little thanks would be nice once in a while." He looked around and spotted Artemis who had just entered the shuttle. "So what are we doing today? Not saving the world again I hope because you can count me out. I'll get off here."

"Nothing quiet so dramatic," said Artemis sitting down in one of the passenger seats. "We're just going down to see Foaly."

"Ah, what a lovely sounding reunion." Said Mulch wistfully. "What's the matter Mud boy? You don't seem quiet as chipper as usual."

"I have been having some, er, difficulties." Said Artemis.

"Don't want to know." Said Mulch throwing his hands into the air again. He turned and headed back down to the cockpit to talk to Holly.

Artemis smiled slightly and closed his eyes. "Nice to see you again Mulch." He said.

Mulch climbed into the copilots seat and settled in while Holly performed a pre-takeoff system check.

"So what's wrong with him?" Asked Mulch looking over at Holly. He wasn't stupid. Artemis was having more than just "difficulties" and it was clear that he wasn't going to elaborate on the matter.

Holly busied herself with the instruments, her mind elsewhere. There was a small delay before she responded, her eyes on the screen.

"I don't know." She said quietly

Mulch nodded, but did not press the issue. Beside him Holly put in the ignition chip and started the engines. The shuttle left the ground with slightly more grace than it had coming down to it. Holly turned the shuttle to the right and headed for the Tara shuttleport.

* * *

Underneath the McGraney farm Holly piloted the Shuttle through the crowded port. Even though the full moon was still a few days away, tourists swarmed the port, trying to get their applications for above ground visas in early. Because Tara's shipping responsibilities had been for the most part overshadowed by the tourist hub, the cargo shuttle was attracting a few stares from the crowd.

So much for being inconspicuous, thought Holly.

Foaly had pre-cleared them for access to the port so, despite the crowd, they were on their way down to Haven relatively quickly.

As the shuttle entered the main part of the volcanic pipe, Holly put the ship on autopilot and went back to the passenger area. Artemis was stretched out across a few of the passenger seats sleeping. Holly didn't blame him; it had been a long day.

She stood in the doorway, hand on the frame, and considered her human friend. Artemis had changed since their exploits into the past.

And not just in body tone, thought Holly smiling as she cast an eye over her unconscious friend. That was probably Butlers doing. She couldn't imagine Artemis being proactive about exercise by his own volition.

Ever since she had healed him on the floor of his room. She had noticed a slight change in his demeanor. He seamed more calm.

No. Not calm, she thought. That was just a side effect of being tired. Something else... Something in his eyes. The way he moved. Holly didn't know what it was, but it made her happy somehow. Like something bad in his personality was gone that had been there before.

With a shock she realized that Artemis was her closest friend, closer even than Foaly. She had traveled and saved the world with Artemis, gone back in time, and fought alongside him against Humans and Fairies alike. The connection she shared with Artemis was unique. Unbidden, thoughts of the kiss they had shared floated into her mind. At the time she had attributed her feelings for Artemis as a side effect of the time stream and her own adolescent body. Now she was not so sure.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and jumped. She had been staring at Artemis, she realized feeling red in her cheeks. She whirled around to find Mulch standing next to her with a bemused expression on his face.

"It's not nice to stare you know." Said Mulch with a snicker

Holly blushed harder and was suddenly irrationally angry.

"Shut up Mulch!" Holly said fuming.

She stomped back into the cockpit to check on the instruments.

My what an effective comeback, thought Mulch with a grin. He decided against heckling Holly further though. He did not feel much like dying today. Holly had that "Don't bother me or I'll shoot you" look about her.

Mulch strode over to where Artemis was resting and looked down.

"I don't know what she sees in you Arty." He said conversationally. "Personally I've never found you to be that attractive."

* * *

Foaly shifted slightly on his feet as he waited for Holly to guide the cargo shuttle into the dock. He was standing next to Commander Vinyáya who had come to oversee the shuttle's landing and to greet Artemis, whom she had never met. The two of them stood behind the safety rail waiting for the docks computer to sync information with the shuttle and clear the landing. The light turned green and Holly expertly guided the shuttle into the docking bay.

Inside the cockpit, Holly breathed out slowly. This had definitely not been the best shuttle trip she had ever had. The loss of the stabilizer had made steering around tight gaps difficult and there had been a few heart stopping moments where the engine had stalled.

She unbuckled herself from the seat and went out of the cockpit. Mulch was exiting the bathroom looking slightly green.

"How are you guys doing?" Asked Holly walking over.

"He slept through the whole thing." Said Mulch, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at Artemis. "I can't say I was as lucky."

Holly went over to Artemis and shook him slightly

"Wake up Artemis. We're here."

Artemis sat up groggily hand on his head.

"Good." He said yawning and stretching.

Artemis and Holly gathered their things (Holly her equipment and Artemis a small bag he had packed before leaving). Mulch joined them and they left the shuttle and climbed up the ramp to where Foaly and Vinyáya stood waiting.

"How was the trip?" Foaly asked Holly.

"Foaly I'm going to strangle you. Are you going to try to tell me that you couldn't get a better shuttle than that?" she said exasperatedly.

Commander Vinyáya made a small noise.

"Actually that _was_ the best we could do. As I'm sure Foaly told you, we're trying to maintain a low profile with this. This was the only ship that wasn't registered for use." She said with a small smile of regret. "Though I can see why it wasn't registered."

Artemis walked forward to Commander Vinyáya.

"Excuse me," he said extending his hand. "I don't believe we have met."

Vinyáya took Artemis's hand and shook it firmly. "Artemis Fowl I believe? I'm Commander Vinyáya. I've heard good things about you from Holly."

The Commander released Artemis's hand and turned back to Holly.

"I'd love to stay and chat but I have to get back to the Council." She said. "Foaly can take it from here."

She turned and walked out of the building and was immediately flanked by several Section 8 guards who escorted her to the waiting car below.

"Ok," said Foaly clapping his hands together. "I think that we can probably head out now too. I'll fill you in with the details along the way."

Holly and Artemis said farewell to Mulch and joined Foaly as they walked to another car waiting below. Artemis noticed as he entered that the windows had a particular sheen to them.

"Polymer safety glass?" He asked Foaly.

Holly rolled her eyes. "Even when ill and fatigued Artemis Fowl doesn't stop being an annoying genius."

Foaly snickered and the climbed into the car, which was infinitely nicer than the shuttle, equipped with comfy black seats and even a mini fridge. As the car began to move, Artemis leaned over and selected a bottle of water from the fridge. His throat was parched.

Foaly also reached in and plucked a carrot from an upper drawer.

"Commander Vinyáya thought that it might be best if Artemis stayed with you while he's in Haven."

"Why?" Asked Holly frowning. She was not adverse to the idea of Artemis staying with her, but it seemed like an odd thing for Vinyáya to suggest.

"We can't have him stay at a regular guest building because he'll attract to much attention." Said Foaly. "He can't stay at the lab either for the same reason."

Artemis nodded. It made sense.

Foaly turned to Artemis now. "I would take you to the lab right now actually, but there's a big recon team heading up to the surface right now and Trouble needs me in the tech booth to be on standby."

"Very well," said Artemis. "I'm sure another day won't kill me."

Artemis looked out the window as Foaly continued the discussion with Holly.

"Ok well, Trouble has given you a few days off Holly." Said Folly. "But, he says that he's taking it out of your vacation time. Major Vask will be filling in for you."

Holly nodded her approval. She liked Major Vask; they had been friends at the academy. She knew that he would take good care of her boys.

It was a further 20 minutes until they got to Holly's apartment due to the rush hour traffic. The rest of the ride was occupied with slightly less interesting conversation. A couple times Foaly questioned Artemis about his health but apart from that the ride passed relatively uneventfully.

They arrived at a small double story residential apartment building. Holly's apartment was on the bottom floor. The door was painted a dark forest green and there were even a few sim-lilies by the window to enhance the ambiance.

The car pulled up to the walk beside door. They said goodbye to Foaly and got out of the car with their things. Holly rummaged around in her pocket, producing a small keycard on a chain, which she slotted into a scanner by the door. They stepped into the apartment and Holly turned on the lights.

Holly's apartment was moderately sized by Fairy standards. There was a decently sized living room with a kitchen at the far end, her bedroom, and a bathroom beside the bedroom. There was also a sliding glass door that lead out to a small enclosed patio/sauna. She had been offered a better apartment in a private neighborhood after the promoted to major, but she had turned it down. This had been her first apartment; her mother had purchased it for her just before the accident that had taken her life. Holly did not want to move out of it. It held too many memories for her.

Artemis walked across the living room and sat on the couch while Holly went into the kitchen and began looking in the shelves for something to eat.

"You hungry?" she asked, tearing the lid off of a cup of insta-pasta. The inside of the therma-cup immediately heated up, boiling the pasta inside.

"Not really." Said Artemis truthfully. He had felt slightly nauseas ever since the shuttle trip down.

Holly walked over to him thrusting the cup of pasta into his hands. "Eat." She said. "I didn't save you to have you to starve yourself to death."

Holly sat down next to Artemis on the couch, passing him a fork and opening up her own cup of pasta.

Artemis ate his pasta in silence. Holly glanced over at him.

"Are you ok?" She asked. "You're being pretty quiet."

Artemis blinked and set down his cup down wearily, looking over at Holly.

"I'm ok. I'm just tired. I think I'll go to sleep pretty soon"

Holly stood up yawning.

"Yah, I think I'll go to sleep too. It's been a long day." She said. "You can take the bed. I'll sleep on the couch."

"That's alright. I'm comfortable here." Said Artemis stretching out on the couch.

"Ok" said Holly taking the cups over to the sink. "Get a good nights sleep. Foaly's meeting us here tomorrow mourning."

She turned out the light and walked to her bedroom.

"Holly?" Said Artemis

"Yes Artemis?"

"Thank you," he said awkwardly. "For everything. For healing me, for taking me down here, for being there for me..."

Holly crossed the room and gave Artemis a hug.

"You don't have to thank me for that Artemis. You would do the same for me, and you _have_ done the same for me." Said Holly smiling.

Artemis was almost asleep now, his eyelids closed.

"Good night Holly."

"Good night Artemis."

* * *

Artemis was having a very strange dream. He dreamt that he was in an open meadow with soft trees and ferns fringing the edges. He was sitting down on the soft grass watching the sparse clouds pass by overhead at an incredible rate. He looked around, a soft breeze playing across his face. Holly was sitting on the grass next to him, hand in his, looking up at the clouds and smiling. She looked around, giving him a wide smile. Together they set off across the meadow walking to nowhere in particular smiling and laughing. Artemis felt perfectly happy. It was great to just be around Holly without any pending doom or crisis.

They continued on until they reached the edge of the grass, a dense wall of trees in front of them.

"Come on." Beckoned Holly, pulling him by the arm and taking off into the brush.

"Holly wait!" Said Artemis, laughing as he sprinted into the forest after her.

Artemis followed closely behind Holly, racing after her, trees flying past them in blurs. Artemis caught up with Holly, sprinting alongside her with long easy strides. He felt great, the wind whipping past him, going up his nose. They ran on, moving deeper and deeper into the forest. Artemis looked to his left, Holly was laughing as she ran, hair flying behind her in a whirl of auburn.

All of the sudden an enormous tree loomed in front of them. They slowed down, gasping for air. The rushing sound of a wide river reached them from somewhere up ahead. Artemis put his palms on the side of the giant oak, panting lightly. He straightened up and looked around for Holly. Suddenly she was nowhere in sight. He was left alone in the forest which was now much more imposing.

"Holly?" He said into the trees.

He turned around and looked apprehensively back up at the oak that was looming over him majestically. Suddenly, he felt an irrational wave of fear overtake him. The tree was not threatening, but more like something that commanded respect. His heart beat against his chest. For the first time he noticed a small murmur of voices in his ear, like a group of people talking along way off. The air around him seemed to thicken, darkening to twilight as the voices became more powerful in his ears.

With a start, he recognized them. They were the voices of the colossal Fairy commune that he used to hear during the full moon. Their chattering filled his ears. Thousands of voices from the past blasting a wall of noise through his skull. He grasped his ears, now on his knees, trying desperately to block out the noise. Above him, the oak shuddered shaking its branches and the ground beneath him, it appearing to grow larger through his squinted eyes. Then the tree spoke to him.

"Artemis!" The tree screeched

"Artemis!"

* * *

"Artemis!" Shouted Holly, shaking him.

With a start, Artemis woke. Cold sweat covered his skin like dew. For a terrible moment, the chorus of voices continued to ring in his ears. Then they died down leaving Artemis breathing heavily.

"Artemis! Are you all right? What happened?" Said Holly, worry lining her face.

She helped Artemis into a sitting position. Hand on his back.

"What happened?" She repeated. "You where shouting my name and thrashing around on the couch when I came in."

Artemis swallowed, wide eyed. The image of the giant oak was still fresh in his mind.

"Ju... Just a nightmare." He stammered. "I'm ok now."

Holly went to the sink and got Artemis glass of water.

"Are you sure you're ok?" She asked, handing him the water.

Artemis gave his head a little shake to clear it. Now that the image of the nightmare was fading he was feeling calmer.

"Yes, of course." He said, draining the water in the glass. "I'm sorry I bothered you. We should get back to sleep."

He rolled over but did not sleep. After a few minutes he heard Holly move back to her room and the sound of a light switching off.

He closed his eyes, but had trouble falling back asleep. Scenes from the dream kept replaying themselves in his minds eye. Usually his dreams were so ordered. He wasn't used to the wave of emotions that had hit him in the dream.

Holly. He thought. She and I were holding hands.

He sat up rubbing his eyes,

"What was that, all about?"


	5. Chapter 5: Diagnosis

**Hello again everybody. I just went back and updated the previous chapters. Nothing major, but hopefully I fixed a few of the grammar mistakes. I want to thank you guys again for all of the help and the wonderful reviews. I'm excited because the story is almost to my favorite part, which I'm really looking forward to writing. I hope you enjoy this chapter and keep up the reviews : ).**

* * *

Haven

Artemis woke to the pungent smell of sim-coffee wafting over from the kitchen. He yawned and stretched, rubbing his eyes – he felt awful. The strange dream had kept him up well into the night and he had only managed to get a few hours of restless sleep. Getting off of the couch, he made his way blearily over to the coffee pot. He heard the sound of a shower running from the bathroom and guessed that that was where Holly was. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat back down on the couch.

Sipping his coffee, he thought about the strange dream again. He didn't know which part of the dream he found more odd. On one hand, the dream about the tree had been very unsettling and disturbing. However, on the other hand his dream about Holly was, if anything, even more confusing. He had thought that he understood their relationship. There had been the time tunnel and, well, that was that. At the time he had thought that their friendship had been irreversibly changed for the worst, but now...

He took another sip of coffee, grimacing at the taste. It seemed that some part of him was still hanging on to the hope that, maybe, he and Holly could be more than just friends.

He shook his head, inadvertently spilling hot coffee down his front. Right now he had more pressing matters to think about, such as the second half of the dream. Was there a connection to his illness? The dream had been startlingly similar to the symptoms he used to endure when he had first obtained magic. The fairy voices, the oak tree by the river – it had all had a very strong magical presence.

Magic was something that he did not understand and could not control. It bothered him to think that his illness might be a magical one. Thoughts of his mothers supposed illness floated to the front of his mind.

No, he thought. Foaly will be able to find out what's wrong with me. I shouldn't spend my time worrying about this.

The sound of the shower stopped and a few minutes later Holly emerged fully clothed, running a comb through her hair. She went over to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup.

"How are you feeling?" She asked Artemis

"I've been better." He said. "I didn't sleep well last night."

"I thought you looked tired so I let you sleep in." She said. "I didn't put out any breakfast because Foaly says that food will just make you sick during the tests."

"Great." Said Artemis sarcastically.

Holly glanced at her watch. "Foaly's going to be here soon but you still have time to shower if you want."

Artemis nodded, his cheeks slightly flushed. He grabbed his bag and headed over to the bathroom leaving Holly to hide her grin and ponder silently about him in his wake.

She sighed putting down her cup. I just hope that Artemis gets through all of this ok, she thought.

* * *

Half an hour later, Artemis and Holly stood outside Holly's apartment watching as the luxury black car pulled up smoothly in front if them.

We wouldn't want to appear conspicuous would we, he thought with a smirk.

They got into the car, taking seats adjacent to the centaur, whereupon Foaly greeted them enthusiastically.

"Artemis! How are you feeling today?" he said jovially.

"A little worse for my wear I'm afraid to say." He said. "You seem happy today."

"I'm excited at the prospect of fine-tuning one of my latest devices." Said Foaly rubbing his hands together in glee. "Your condition has given me the perfect opportunity to try out my new advance in medical technology."

Artemis frowned. "I'm not a lab rat Foaly."

"Don't worry." Said Foaly dismissively. "It's already gone through the preliminary testing. I just want to see how it responds to a live subject."

"How reassuring." Said Artemis sarcastically. In truth he had no trepidations about the centaurs invention, but the mourning had left him tired and somewhat less composed than he would normally be. In any case, he did not pursue the conversation.

"Holly you don't have to come if you don't want to." Said Foaly, turning to Holly.

"I'm coming." Said Holly firmly. "Someone has to make sure that you keep Artemis in one piece."

"Ok, ok. It was just a suggestion." Said Foaly grinning. He knew that the real reason Holly wanted to come was that she was just as curious about Artemis's illness as he was. He motioned the driver and the black car began its course to Foaly's lab.

Yesterday it had taken them almost an hour to get from the shuttle port to Holly's apartment, but today the roads were clear and they made good time. The fifteen minutes passed uneventfully and soon the driver was pulling up to a large complex off the east side of police plaza.

Foaly instructed the driver to go around to the back entrance and quickly shooed Holly and Artemis out of the car. As it pulled away, Foaly entered a 27-digit code into the panel on the wall whilst humming a few bars from a People's nursery rhyme for the voice recognition program. The steel door slid up revealing a spacious storage area behind it. They quickly entered the building and Foaly led them to one of the outlying rooms that had been equipped with monitors, computers, and a large cylindrical unit of some type off to one side.

AS they entered the room a small figure detached itself from one of the monitors and walked over to meet them.

"Hello Qwan." Said Artemis recognizing the aged demon warlock.

"Hello mud boy, its nice to see you again. No.1 tells me that you have been keeping busy." Said Qwan.

"Yes, well, it turns out saving the world is a full time job."

"Qwan is here to help perform some magical tests on Artemis." Said Foaly in answer to Holly's raised eyebrow. He turned to the machine that was on the floor next to them, patting it fondly. "It's the only thing that this baby can't do. I've been working this project for the last few months. It's like a human MRI except its much more effective. This little marvel can tell me your temperature, body tone, chemical balances, brain activity, any other sort of physical anomaly, and even what you've eaten for the past couple of weeks."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Foaly, you're boring us to death with your tech lecture."

Artemis, however, was interested in spite of himself. He walked slowly over to the machine giving it the benefit of his technical eye.

"How have you managed to get it to perceive such subtle things as muscle tone?"

"Advanced imaging technology." Said Foaly eagerly. "It collects data on the cellular level and then reconstructs the body in its built in 3D environment. Took me weeks alone just to figure out how to calibrate that function."

"Interesting." Said Artemis peering closely at the machine.

"Just so long as its safe." Said Holly with her arms folded. "Artemis isn't a lab rat Foaly, he's our friend."

Foaly sighed. In years past Holly would not have made as much fuss about using the machine on Artemis. Something had changed between Holly and Artemis after their stint in the time tunnel. Holly could not be coaxed to spill the details, but there was definitely something going on between them.

"Don't worry. Like I said it already passed all of the safety trials, Artemis will be completely fine."

"Perhaps not if the tests never proceed." Pointed out Artemis.

"Yes. Well let's get to it then. Quan will be helping me with the computers while Artemis is in the testing chamber and Holly you can help me monitor his status."

As people moved off to various parts of the room, Foaly set up the machine for Artemis and instructed him about how it would work once he was inside.

"The machine will administer a sedative once we're ready to go." Said Foaly. "Standard medical procedure. The scans will be skewed if you're body is constantly shifting around."

Artemis nodded. "Naturally."

"Apart from that it will be just like sleeping. When you wake up you'll be back in Holly's apartment, safe and sound."

Artemis nodded again his face neutral. Foaly gave him a clap on the shoulder.

"We'll find out what's going on Artemis." He said encouragingly, opening the sliding panel of the machine revealing what looked like a small white hospital bed. Then as an after thought: "Besides, where else would I find a mud man that can understand my tech rants."

Artemis gave a weak smile as he climbed into the machine. "Thanks Foaly. Very cheering."

* * *

Foaly frowned in concentration as lines of specs scrolled past the screen in front of him. Holly had long since given up on trying to understand it all and now she wandered between Quan and Foaly, occasionally checking on the stats to reassure herself that Artemis was doing all right.

"Well, there's no problems with his body, or at least as far as I can see." Checking another couple of screens. "In fact, apart from symptoms of stress, he's in surprisingly good shape."

Holly grinned. "I suspect Butler might have something to do with that."

Foaly gave an appreciative snort of laughter. Still it irked him that, several hours into the tests, he had yet to find anything that explained Artemis's illness.

"I guess we'll have to see if Quan can find anything. I had suspected that it might have been magic related ever since his reaction to the healing. I had just hoped it would be something else."

"Do you have any idea what it might be?"

"It presents like a magical disease, but I have no idea what it might be."

"Impossible." Said Holly frowning. "You have to have magic to catch a magical disease and I've checked him myself, not a drop of magic in him."

"I believe we should leave that for me to decide." Said Quan who had abandoned the computer and was now getting ready to give Artemis the magical examination. "He'll need to be out of that contraption. I need physical contact to do this properly.

The next several minutes where occupied by retrieving Artemis from the testing chamber and transporting him to one of the smaller side rooms with a patients hospital bed.

Foaly and Holly stood by while Quan reached out and touched his middle finger and forefinger to Artemis's forehead. The symbol on Quan's own forehead sparked and transformed as he summoned up his magic. He frowned as he made connection with Artemis.

"You were right. Not a drop of magical power in him." Said Quan. "There is a weak echo of power but that could be from a number of things related to his recent healing or even his travel in the time stream."

"He spent all of his stolen magic attempting to heal his mother." Said Holly softly. "He told me about it when we went back in time together."

Foaly glanced sharply at his friend. This was quiet a different story than the one Artemis had told them when his mother had been ill. If what Holly said was true, Artemis had lied about Holly's involvement in the spelltropy and had actually been the supposed instigator himself. He could not imagine that Holly would even be able to speak to Artemis after something like that. He thought about questioning her now but decided against it. Someday though he would find out exactly what had happened during that particular venture.

Quan's frown deepened. "That would explain the echo of magic that I'm getting. But there's something else here too. Some deep force is pulling at the back of his mind. I would hazard a guess that it might be the cause of his discomfort."

Quan broke the connection with Artemis, stating that there was not much else he could do. Foaly sighed, running a hand over his head and Holly bit her lip.

"Well this complicated matters." Said Foaly matter-of-factly.

They all stood in silence for a few minutes, trying to consider a candidate for the cause of the mysterious illness.

"Well, it won't do Artemis any good to stay here." Said Foaly finally. "His condition is stable enough. Holly should take him home. Meanwhile I'll do some research on symptoms of magical diseases and see if I can't find something."

Holly nodded, her mind elsewhere, and they began the arduous task of getting Artemis back into the car. Quan said his goodbyes and departed quickly and soon the car was on its way back to Holly's apartment. In the back seat of the car Artemis was slumped against a corner, his eyes closed, looking peaceful. Holly watched his chest rise and fall with a slow steady rate. Somehow the whole situation seemed much more sinister now. True they had suffered a multitude of injuries before. But it had always been a simple matter of a quick healing and a lot of magic. Holly had been hopeful that they would discover what was wrong with Artemis today and now that Foaly could not even figure it out, she was worried.

Her thoughts turned back to all of the time they had been together and the many adventures they had had. He couldn't die. She wouldn't let him.

Several times during the trip Foaly asked Holly if she was ok, but she had not heard him. Her mind was focused on another time and place.

* * *

Artemis woke up, vaguely disorientated, in Holly's apartment. Holly was sitting beside him and smiled at him as he sat up.

"How are you feeling?" She said.

"Tired." He said truthfully. "Did Foaly figure out what's going on?"

Immediately he could tell by the way Holly shifted her gaze that something was wrong.

"He doesn't know what's wrong yet." She said, addressing a couch cushion. "His super machine didn't turn up anything new except that you had Crème brûlée for desert three nights ago and I expect you already knew that."

"Yes it was exquisite."

"Foaly and Quan think that you may have a magical illness. Foaly's doing research right now."

Artemis nodded slowly. A magical illness... His heart sank. Of course it made sense, but he couldn't help thinking back to his mother lying on her bed, in pain and dying. Maybe he should have confronted Foaly about the dream he had had.

"Don't worry Holly, I'm sure Foaly will figure it out." He said, trying to sound confident.

Holly shook her head vigorously, her eyes now watering. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

Artemis put his hand on her arm. "Holly I'll be fine. I promise. If it is a magical illness it just complicates the matter a little that's all."

Holly thought about what Artemis was saying and forced herself to accept the truth in what his words. There was no reason to believe that Foaly would not discover something by tomorrow.

She reached across and gave Artemis a tight hug. Artemis's stomach growled and she let out a laugh.

"That tends to happen when one hasn't eaten all day." Said Artemis with his cheeks slightly flushed.

Holly laughed again and walked into the kitchen. She grabbed a pear from a bowl of fruit that was sitting there and tossed it to him.

"You'll have to excuse me. It's not Crème brûlée but, hey, it's probably better for you right now anyways."

"I didn't know that the people were growing produce." He said thoughtfully, taking a bite out of the pear.

"All we have to do is provide the light. The soil under the ground is so rich that it provides an excellent level of nutrients. Plus it's all organic. I guarantee that that's the best pear you've ever eaten.

"I feel so hungry that right now that's probably not a difficult requirement to meet."

They both laughed. Artemis was surprised at how carefree he felt given the dire state of affairs. Perhaps it was an after effect of the various tests or the sedative he was still shaking off.

He and Holly passed the time talking and laughing. Eventually, however, Holly noticed that Artemis was rubbing his arms and stretching with increasing frequency.

"Sore?" She asked

"Slightly. Foaly's machine made my limbs ache quite a bit."

"That and sleeping on the couch."

"Conceivably, that too." Agreed Artemis.

"You should try the hot tub out on the patio. It does wonders to relieve the stress in your body. I'll come in with you.

Artemis flushed. "I don't have a swim suit."

"Just use a spare pair of boxers or a pair of shorts. I'll meet you out there."

With that she left Artemis with the look of a dear caught in a headlight on his face and went to go change into her own swimsuit in her room.

Ten minutes later she was outside pulling the cover off of the hot tub. The hot tub itself would probably be more aptly named a mud tub because rather than hot water the tub was filled with soft bubbling mud.

Artemis walked awkwardly out onto the patio in a pair of navy blue boxers, blushing fiercely as he went. Really, thought Holly as she looked up at him, its not like he has anything to be ashamed about.

Artemis blushed even deeper when he saw Holly in her swimsuit. He could not help but think how beautiful she looked.

"Holly I think that I might be more comfortable sitting inside." Said Artemis with a note of desperation in his voice.

Holly gave him a nudge toward the hot tub, grinning. "Just get in there."

Artemis stood at the lip of the tube and slowly lowered himself into the bubbling mud. An involuntary sigh of relief escaped him the warm mud soothed his aching muscles.

Holly got in on the other side of the tube. "Nice isn't it? Sadly I don't get to use it much when I'm working. I'm to tired when I get home."

"Its very soothing." Agreed Artemis. "Why mud though?"

"The mud is naturally heated by steam vents that we channeled into Haven when it was built. Plus the mud is just nice for your skin in general." She said, flashing him a smile

Artemis leaned his head back, enjoying the feeling of the mud on his skin.

Splat! Artemis leaned forward sputtering as a large ball of mud hit him in the face. Wiping the mud off with his hand he looked over at Holly, eyebrows raised. Holly glanced over giving him her best "what?" face which was slightly marred by a barely concealed smile.

Slowly Artemis gathered up a handful of mud.

"Oh no you..." which was about all Holly was able to say until the wad of mud splashed into her.

She wiped the mud from her face, trying and failing to look indignant. Artemis watched her, his eyes smiling.

"You know," said Holly, shaking mud from her hair. "I believe this means war."

What followed next was an all out battle between Artemis and Holly. Mud flew everywhere as they both skirted around the small tub. Soon they were both shouting with laughter and dripping with mud like children.

"Stop!" Said Artemis, panting lightly and raising his hands. "I give up. You win."

Holly stopped her arm mid throw and allowed the mud to fall from her fingers.

"You can't be feeling too terrible if you can pelt me with mud like that." Said Holly.

"On the contrary, I now have a blinding headache thanks to you." Said Artemis. They both laughed.

Suddenly, Holly felt bad. "Do you really have a headache?" She asked

"A little." Said Artemis truthfully. "It wasn't quite as relaxing as you said it would be."

She gave him a little shove. "Hey you were just as much a part of that as I was."

"True." Said Artemis, straining some mud from his hair.

The mud fight was something of an icebreaker for Artemis and he relaxed and enjoyed the rest of his time in the hot tub with Holly despite the headache. They passed the time making jokes and small talk about this and that and then got out to shower off and clean up the mud-splattered patio.

I could be happy just staying here with Holly forever, thought Artemis. Sadly there was no way that could happen. After he was all patched up he would go back up to the surface.

If only if only, he thought.

In the shower, Holly was entertaining similar thoughts. If only we could take this moment and live in it forever, she thought whimsically. She sighed because she knew it could never happen. Foaly would probably have found a cure for Artemis's illness tomorrow. Then Artemis would head back up to the surface and she would be stuck only seeing him when the world was in peril.

Dinner was somewhat subdued that night as thoughts of each other filled Artemis and Holly's minds. When it was time for bed, Holly got up and gave Artemis a kiss on the cheek.

He touched his cheek smiling. "What was that for?"

"I don't know." Said Holly. "Its just... I'll miss you when you're gone."

Artemis gave her a hug

"I'll miss you too Holly." He said softly. "We'll stay in touch ok."

"Ok." Said Holly, willing the hug to last.

Artemis released her and she headed slowly back to her room.

"Good night Holly."

"Good night Artemis."

Artemis lay down on the couch feeling inexplicably exhausted. Now that he was alone his headache seemed much more potent, pounding in his ears with his heartbeat. He pushed the pain off to the side, concentrating on Holly, and willed himself to sleep. He closed his eyes with the image of Holly and the field from his dreams floating through his mind. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6: Fright and Flight

**Ok. so, I wasn't going to post an AU message here because I thought it would be cliche. But, a friend told me to just suck it up and post one anyways so, here goes. I'm really sorry, Theres no good excuse for not updationg in so long. I got busy with school, AP, and graduation and after that I just kept putting it off. I'm really glad to be posting again though. My sincere apologies to Holly-Rose Fowl-Casson, who I promised an update to immediatly and then went off and ignored it for another month or so. Anyways, this chapter is a little short, but I hope you enjoy it. Again ****I don't own anything. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with.**

**-Vexx**

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Once again Artemis was standing in the middle of the wide field, grass whistling as the low wind blew past it. Overhead purple-gray clouds swirled ominously, threatening rain in the near future. Artemis looked around him for Holly but she was nowhere to be seen. The trees and bushes swirled in the wind, branches whipping around in all directions giving them the unsettling appearance of being alive. They leaned in towards him as if to get a better look, the wind rustled through their branches like a chorus of whispering voices.

Unnerved, Artemis backed away from the whispering trees, seeking shelter at a large boulder in the center of the field. As the wind blew harder the trees swayed vigorously, straining against their roots as if to follow him into the clearing. Impossible thoughts began to cross through Artemis's mind.

_They're watching me; talking about Me_, thought Artemis.

Impossible, of course. Trees were not animate objects.

_It's simply the storm creating the illusion of movement, _he thought as he looked again at the sea of moving green around him.

As he watched, the trees continued to shake their branches at the human in the center of their field, their whispering rustles now coalescing into a low roar. But, within the roar of the trees was a deeper sound – rhythmic and powerful - that seemed, not only to fill the air around Artemis, but resonate from inside of his body as well. He felt it ring in his head, filling his ears with an ever more familiar throb of voices.

Artemis recognized the voices. The voices of the forest and of the fairies. The voices that spoke of ancient ties between the people and nature. The voices of magic.

The fairy Commune.

The voices continued to increase in volume and strength until. They filled Artemis's head, making him dizzy. He clasped his hands over his ears as if to shut out the noise, but it continued to pound into his head. He couldn't think or move. The voices of thousands of forest denizens sang, unrelenting, in his ears.

Then, abruptly, the noise died out as though hushed. In its place, a new voice entered his mind. Deep and powerful, it rumbled through his head.

"Artemis..."

The voice was slow, quite, and steady. Commanding, but with no malice in it.

"Come to me," rumbled the voice.

Before he was even aware of it, Artemis was on his feet - the voice drawing him onward in his mind. The presence of the deeper voice had calmed the alarm he had felt. Now he felt safe and assured. Almost unconsciously, he turned and ran into the forest; following the pull of the voice as it led him through the trees. As he ran, bushes seemed to lean out of his way and trees arched over him, creating a dense tunnel. Slowly the voices of the forest returned, but softly now, their whispered conversations no longer threatening.

"Come."

Artemis continued to run deeper into the forest - retracing the path Holly had led him on last time. The further he ran, the more he felt the presence of the forest closing in on him; pulsing through his veins like the beat of a giant heart.

Artemis stopped as he reached the end of a line of trees. He stepped into a clearing, under the shadow of an enormous oak tree whose branches hung like a vast dome over the mossy earth at its feet. In the twilight cast by the branches of the tree, little woodland creatures flitted silently through the grass. In the air above him, moths flew in slow, wide circles. Their wings shimmered as dim rays of light flitted across them through the many branches overhead.

Slowly, Artemis approached the center of the clearing. He went up to the base of the tree and tentatively laid a hand on the ancient oak. At once he felt the vast and ancient power flowing in its veins. Above him the branches stirred as the tree acknowledged Artemis's presence.

"Artemis," said the tree softly.

It did not speak to him with words, but rather projected itself into Artemis's mind in a way that transcended speech.

"It has been long since I have witnessed a human who has the connection," said the tree. "Most of your kind forfeited their bonds long ago in favor of prosperity and industry."

"Who are you?" Asked Artemis.

"I am Yggdrasil, the world tree. I embody the connection that flows between all living creatures on this earth. A force that runs in every creature's veins, though, sadly, some no longer feel it there. You refer to it as magic."

_Magic?_ Thought Artemis, thoroughly mystified.

"I don't understand," he said.

"The energy that the Fairies, the People, call magic stems from this ancient connection. Their power is derived from their close relationship with the power of the earth and its creatures. It is a power that you are now awakened to."

Artemis nodded. He had long ago observed the compassion that fairies felt with other creatures: their refusal to eat meat or use animal furs, the ritual – giving back to the earth - the source of their power. Even the laws of the Fairy's holy book must have originally been based on protecting the purity of this connection. Yes. That made sense. But, he himself could not possibly share this connection. He had forfeited the small amount of magic he had had, and he had certainly never deserved to have that in the first place.

"Yggdrasil," Said Artemis, "I think you must be mistaken. I don't have magic anymore. I spent it all trying to heal my mother," said Artemis. "And even if I did, it wasn't rightfully mine." He looked shamefully at the ground. "I stole it from the time stream in the first place."

Artemis couldn't look at Yggdrasil. He felt ashamed. He was sure that Yggdrasil was going to be mad. Instead, he was surprised to hear what sounded like a chuckle.

"Artemis, you needn't worry about such things. Yes you have magic. Yes you deserve to have it. You may have borrowed some from your friend's to begin with, and you may have lost that borrowed magic since. But, the connection that lay hidden deep inside of you was reforged and, more importantly, remains strong. Magic can never truly be stolen. If your soul was impure or if you where an evil person, the bond would not have remained with you. It could have faded away. But, it did not."

"Why Though? Why Me? It doesn't make any sense."

Yggdrasil chuckled again.

"You are an exceptional human Artemis. You found the Fairies. You discovered their secrets. But, rather than reject them, you learned from them. I can see what you were, and I can see what you have become. You have taken right over wrong, even when wrong might have served you better. You're prolonged exposure to the fairies has opened your eyes and your soul. How many of your race can truly claim that?

Artemis was having trouble wrapping his mind around all of this, which was saying something.

"So then, why all of this?" he asked, gesturing around him. "Why go to all the trouble of contacting me in my dreams?"

"You are ill Artemis. Your soul maintains the connection but your body rejects it. Slowly, it is tearing your body apart. If you continue like this the strain will surely kill you. It is my job to protect the creatures on this earth; I cannot someone who has overcome so much, the first human with the bond in decades, to suffer such a fate."

Artemis's tried to grasp all of this. His head was reeling; It was all too much to absorb. There was a sharp pain in his left eye. His vision was becoming blurred and his head was pounding again.

"Wh... What do I do?" He asked, secretly appalled that he would stutter.

"You must come to me. I can cannot do anything for you when you are so far away."

His headache was getting worse. The dream was beginning to blur. He put a hand to his head trying to block out the pain.

"How will I find you?" Asked Artemis.

"I will guide you to me." Said Yggdrasil as the world blacked out around him. "You need only to come to me."

"Come to me..."

Artemis woke with a cry, his headache was blinding! He rolled off the couch and crashed to the floor with a dull thud, wincing as his shoulder hit the ground badly. He staggered to his feet, holding his arm, and lurched towards Holly's room.

"Come to me..."

Holly was yanked out of her slumber by the sound of her door crashing open into the wall. She jerked upright, tangling herself in her covers as she struggled to see what was going on.

"Holly!" said Artemis's voice.

"Artemis?" asked Holly, trying to disentangle herself from her blankets.

She felt Artemis grab her by the arms. His fingers dug into her arm painfully and she involuntarily let out a gasp of pain.

"Holly, we need to go!" Said Artemis frantically.

"Go? Wha... Go Where? Artemis?"

Holly managed to free herself from her blankets and find the light switch. Flicking it on she tried to see through the sudden blindness to make out Artemis. The sight that met her was that of a disheveled Artemis with his hair sticking up on end, bags under his eyes. He was standing by her bed looking at her wide-eyed grasping his arm as though it were broken.

"Artemis! What's Going on? What's happened to you?"

"Never mind that." Said Artemis giving a half shrug/twitch. "There's no time! We have to go now!"

He grabbed her arm again and attempted to drag her out of her room.

"Artemis stop! Your not making any sense. "

Artemis stopped for a moment and turned his head in her direction, gazing right through her, his eyes not focusing.

"I have to go find it. There's no time"

"No. Artemis! What's it? Why do you need to find it?"

Ignoring her, Artemis made to go for the door again but Holly pulled him back. Artemis released his grip on her arm and struggled out of her grasp, making his way back towards the door. Holly felt her frustration get the better of her. She chased after him, half tackling him and pinning him to the wall.

"Artemis, look at me!" She commanded.

Artemis's eyes focused on her. Being knocked into the wall seemed to have calmed him back down a little. But, it his eyes the same urgency and panic stayed beneath the surface. Artemis let out a groan and he sank to the floor, hands on his head. The pain of his headache was blinding. His whole body seemed week from the brief exertion.

"Artemis! What's wrong? Tell me what's going on."

Artemis sat on the floor shivering. The pain was almost overwhelming.

"Holly…" He began.

"What is it?" She asked, no very concerned.

Artemis swallowed and then tried again.

"I think I know what's wrong with me"

"What?" Asked Holly.

Artemis shook his head.

"There's no time to explain. Holly, we need to get to the surface as soon as we can. We need a shuttle or something."

He tried to stand, but his legs were still too weak and he slumped back against the wall.

"Artemis, be logical." pleaded Holly. "You can't go anywhere like this. We need to take you to Foaly to get you help."

Artemis shook his head violently. Oops, bad mistake. He put his head back down in his hands as another wave of pain washed over him.

"No. There's not enough time. We need to get to the surface now."

"Artemis…" began Holly.

"Holly," Interrupted Artemis, "I need you to trust me."

"But…"

Artemis looked directly into her eyes.

"Do you trust me?"

Holly stared back into his haggard eyes that perfectly mirrored her own. As she looked, a terrible thought suddenly occurred to her. What if this was all another trick? What if, like last time, Artemis was hiding something because he knew she wouldn't go along with it? Hiding it for his own needs above others. Filled with indecision she thought back to Artemis, wracked with pain as he lay on the floor of his room in Fowl Manor. She looked back into Artemis's pain and panic filled eyes in front of her.

"Yes."


	7. Chapter 7: Fright and Flight 2

**Hey, I have another short chapter here. Actually I originally intended for this to be the second half of chapter 6 (hence the title), but I was so eager to update that I couldn't wait. So I split it into two chapters. I think it worked out well. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Don't forget to fling me a review now and again and thank you to everybody who did last chapter. : )**

**P.S. I don't know why the scene breaks haven't been working, but hopefully these turn out.**

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**EDIT! - I'm terribly sorry to do this to you, but here it is: I'm not posting the next update until I get 10 new reviews (58 total). So, that being said, thank you to the 5 or 6 of you who have been reviewing regularly, you know who you are. =)**

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Foaly rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes as he scrolled through the results from Artemis's tests for the umpteenth time. Nothing stacked up: Artemis should not be having any problems right now. And yet the symptoms seemed so familiar…

He slammed his hand down on the table in frustration. It really bothered him that he could not remember what he needed to.

"D'arvit! This is important."

And indeed it was. Though he was concerned for Artemis, there we're even greater ramifications if this was left unchecked. Even if Artemis **was** patient zero, if he truly did have a magical disease then everyone was at risk. With a shudder Foaly remembered the outbreak of spelltropy that had devastated the People in the past; only very narrowly had they escaped complete destruction with that one. No, whatever Artemis had needed to be diagnosed as soon as possible. Foaly went to click on the communications icon to call Holly and tell her he might need to do a few more tests on Artemis.

Just then the icon in the upper left of the screen started flashing. He clicked on it, curious. Holly's face blipped up onto the screen.

"Holly?"

"Hey Foaly." Said Holly.

"Where are you?"

"Correction: Artemis and I are at the shuttle port. I need the access code for a shuttle so that I can take Artemis to the surface."

"What! Why? Holly I need Artemis down here. He isn't cured yet. Trying to move him might do more damage to him."

On the screen, Holly bit her lip.

"I know that Foaly. But, Artemis… He had some sort of… breakdown this morning. He says that he needs to get to the surface or he's going to die! I… Foaly, I think we should trust him."

"Holly," Said Foaly, trying to calm the situation down. "Artemis could easily be delirious from his illness. He might not have fully functioning mental facilities at this point. Get him down here and then we can run some more tests on him in the lab."

Holly bit her lip again, unsure of herself. She looked off screen and had a quick whispered conversation with a person outside of the camera view. Foaly waited impatiently.

"Foaly," began Holly, coming back into the focus of the camera, "I don't think Artemis is delirious. I think he's right. We have to do something about this and we have to do it soon. We don't have much time. What are more tests going to do at this point? Artemis has a plan. He says he knows a solution to this. I think it would be better to listen to him than to do nothing."

Back in the lab, Foaly ground his teeth. Whenever Artemis had a "plan" things got way more complicated than they needed to be. He knew he could figure out what was wrong with Artemis. He just needed more time.

"Look Holly," said Foaly. He turned around to face a computer behind him, pulling up the list for all of the shuttles in Haven's main bay. "All of the shuttles are scheduled for use. Even if I wanted to give you an access code I couldn't.

Down in the shuttle port, quick as a flash while Foaly's back was turned, Holly used the camera's controls to zoom in on the screen behind Foaly. On the right hand side of the screen was a list of corresponding access codes to various shuttles. She selected one and hurriedly wrote it down on the digital pad she had waiting and ready. Straitening up she turned back to the camera.

"Ok Foaly. I'm really sorry about this, but… I'll talk to you soon."

Quickly realizing his mistake, Foaly whipped around.

"D'arvit Holly! No. Wait!"

But, it was too late. Holly had already cut off the call. The picture of her wavered and disappeared.

O-O-O-O

In the shuttle port, Holly typed the access code into the Ambassador 9: leisurely travel shuttle. The shuttle was used mainly to transport various fairy dignitaries between the three main cities of the people. It would have to do though. The door slid open and she ushered Artemis inside. They went to the cockpit where Holly put in the ignition chip and started the shuttle. Wearily, Artemis sat down in the copilot's seat and fastened the restraint. Holly looked over at Artemis and he nodded. She detached the shuttle from the magnetic docking bay and made for the shuttle doors.

Artemis settled himself more comfortably in his seat. Holly wished that she could have given him another shot of healing magic to alleviate some of his pain. Unfortunately, healing him the first time had wiped her clean. She had thought about going to see No.1 or someone else who could help him, but Artemis had been very clear: it was imperative that they move quickly.

AS they left the port, Holly felt a sudden onrush of guilt in the pit of her stomach. She felt terrible about tricking Foaly. But, she was sure, more now than ever, that it had been necessary. Every time she looked at Artemis it reinforced her constitution.

"Please watch where you are going Holly." Said Artemis quietly.

With a start, Holly realized that she had been looking at Artemis and had drifted too close to the tunnel wall. She grimaced, blushing slightly and corrected her mistake.

Artemis closed his eyes and sighed, resigned to simply let the ride play out. He felt a little better now that he knew they were on their way. He felt more calm, the panic he had experienced earlier having been momentarily abated. Stronger than ever though, he felt the pull of Yggdrasil urging him onwards.

_Come to me._

"Holly." Said Artemis, his eyes still shut.

"Artemis?"

"Fly fast." He said simply.

Holly felt herself grin a little for the first time that morning.

"Fast? Sure, I can do that."

She shifted gears and the shuttle sped up the tunnel at breakneck speed.

O-O-O-O

Dwarfs were famous for their widely colorful vocabulary. In fact, they were ranked just behind swear toads on the list of most obscene language. However, anyone who thought that dwarf cursing was bad had obviously never been around Foaly when he was under severe stress. A stream of muttered profanities filled the air of the tech booth where he was currently situated, desperately trying to think of a way to get Holly back down to Haven. Fortunately for those outside, the booth was fitted with sound absorbing panels, Foaly's paranoia proving itself useful for once.

Foaly knew that he wouldn't be able to convince Holly to come back on her own. Once she was committed to a course of action she was as stubborn as a pack mule (as Foaly knew from experience). Nor would he be able to remote access the shuttle or deactivate it without arousing suspicion. Granted, someone was bound to notice soon. So his first objective was to get Holly back in Haven before that happened.

The light above the door flashed red, awaking Foaly from his reverie. He looked at the door cam and saw, to his discomfort, Commander Vinyáya standing impatiently at the foot of the door, flanked by several sector seven guards. Foaly let out a frustrated sigh. Apparently avoiding suspicion was no longer an option; things were about to get very complicated. Still, best to play it innocently. He turned around and flipped on the mike.

"Commander Vinyáya? Did you need something?"

"I would like to come in, Foaly." She said, looking directly at him through the camera and tapping her foot.

Foaly gulped. She was definitely not in a good mood.

"Yes, of course." He said.

He punched in the code on the access panel and the door of the booth slid open. Vinyáya motioned for her guards to stay outside and stepped into the booth, closing the door behind her.

"Was there something you needed Commander? I have a lot of work to do and…"

"Don't you feign innocence with me Foaly. Do you have any idea how much dwarf manure I've had to wade through this morning? I get a call saying that a very important trade meeting had to be postponed because the shuttle that was going to pick up the Atlantian trade advisor couldn't get there. Apparently the shuttle in question was not in the docking bay when one of the pilots went to find it. Then I hear that someone found security cam footage of Major Holly Short taking the same shuttle for an unregistered flight up the Tara route. I spent half the morning alone trying to keep that one quiet. And **then** I get a call from Trouble. Wants to know where his major is. Her vacation time is up and he wants her back on duty. So if you wouldn't mind Foaly, tell me what in Fronds name is going on.

Foaly swallowed and tried again.

"Commander I honestly don't know…"

"Foaly," said the exasperated Commander, "Holly had the access code to the shuttle. There's only one place where she could have got that and that's from you. I need you to tell me what you know because this is serious. Holly could lose her job over this and the council hasn't been too pleased with sector seven recently. I'm sure they'd just love an excuse to cut the program. We need to do something about this quickly before there are repercussions for everyone."

Foaly sighed, defeated. Vinyáya was right of course. It wouldn't do anybody any good if he tried to shy away from this.

"Holly called me this morning from the shuttle port. She said that she and Artemis needed to get to the surface immediately. Of course I refused, but I accidentally made the mistake of opening the shuttle log for that morning and she stole an access code when I was facing the other way." He said ruefully.

"What was so urgent that she couldn't wait for clearance?"

"She wouldn't say. Only that Artemis had figured something out that required the trip."

"That mud boy is becoming increasingly troublesome." Said Vinyáya.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. Foaly waited. Vinyáya had her eyes closed and appeared to be deep in thought.

"Alright." Said the Commander, opening her eyes. "I will accept that you could not have done anything about this. We don't know why Artemis and Holly decided to steal the shuttle, but it is imperative that we resolve this issue before it becomes an even larger problem than it already is. Foaly, I need you to make communication with Holly as soon as you can, though they may already be above ground by now. I will do what I can to alleviate the concerns of the Council and Trouble in the meantime."

With that, Vinyáya made her way to the door. She paused at the threshold, however, in an afterthought.

"Oh, and Foaly?" She said, turning.

"Yes Commander?"

"I know that Holly is your friend and that you are concerned for her," She said, a hint of sadness in her voice, "but we need to get her back down here, even if it goes against what she wants. Understood?"

Foaly remained silent, thinking furiously. He did want to see Artemis cured, but he also didn't want to see Holly lose her job.

"Foaly?" said Vinyáya impatiently.

"Yes Commander." Foaly said with a sigh.

_Sorry Artemis_, Foaly thought as Commander Vinyáya left the room. He turned back to his computers scanning them for any sign of the missing craft. _Holly may trust your judgment, but I'm not so sure I do._

O-O-O-O

Up on the surface the Ambassador emerged from the Tara shuttleport into the bright morning sun. Holly sighed with relief. Getting through the crowded Tara port had been a nightmare. As they were leaving, one of the LEP security officers stationed at the port had come up to the shuttle to inform Holly that she was in possession of a stolen vehicle. She had just barely managed to convince the elf that there had been an unregistered emergency and that she had been ordered by Trouble to take the shuttle for an aboveground mission. Showing the elf her superior rank as major hadn't hurt either. The elf had backed down and they had been able to get out of the port for the most part unsuspected.

Holly set the shuttle to hover for a little while, got up, and stretched. Then she turned to Artemis. Artemis had fallen asleep shortly after leaving the docking bay in haven. Though he had slept the whole time the sleep didn't appear to have done him much good. If anything he looked worse off.

Holly gently shook him awake. He opened his eyes slowly, focusing on her.

"Artemis, you need to tell me where we're going." Said Holly.

Artemis nodded and closed his eyes again. He frowned as if trying to listen to a distant noise.

"Finland." He said. "Head for Finland."

"Finland? Are you sure?"

"Finland." Artemis repeated, nodding.

And suddenly his eyes were blazing with intensity, the panic in his voice clear.

"We need to get there **now** Holly." He said almost desperately. "We need to hurry. We don't have much time…"

Holly grasped him by the arms making Artemis wince. She looked into his eyes.

"Calm down Artemis," she said soothingly, "We'll be there soon. We'll get whatever's wrong taken care of and then you can go… you can go back home."

She said the last part sadly. I she was honest with herself she didn't want Artemis to go back home. She had grown more attached to Artemis in the past few days than she would care to admit.

Artemis nodded, her words having calmed him. His eyes slowly closed and he fell back asleep. Holly released his arms and climbed back into the pilot's seat, pointing the shuttle towards Finland and punching in the coordinates.

She settled back into the chair, contemplating. She wished she could see Artemis more. Spend more time with him. Though she would never admit it, she missed him terribly in the long stints between adventures. If only she could see Artemis more. If only he lived in Haven. If only he were not a human. And if only he had not used her. Hurt her.

She let out a frustrated sigh. It seemed like the world had always conspired against her. She had lost both her mother and her father by the time she was out of school (It was rare for people to die in Haven of unnatural causes. Why had it had to be her parents?) She had made it her mission in life to help others by joining the LEP only to fight through years of prejudice and tradition. She had had to fight to retain her career even though she only ever did what she thought was right. She had been captured and held prisoner by a mudman which had sparked a whole chain of problems. And now she was developing feelings for this very same mudman, something unheard of in her world.

But, she would go through it all again. Despite the many hardships, she was proud of her accomplishments and she was, in the end, happy she had met Artemis. She just wished it was not so difficult to lead the life she had chosen.

She looked over at Artemis's sallow taught face and instantly felt a pang of guilt. Here she was wishing her life would be easier when Artemis was really the one who could use a break. Now was not the time to focus on her own problems or inhibitions. Right now she had to work on getting Artemis better. Everything else could wait

Suddenly, she felt the hot sting of tears in her eyes. What if Artemis didn't make it? What if it had been the wrong decision to come out here? Would she ever be able to forgive herself?

She gave her head a little shake. No, she couldn't think like that. She had chosen her course and she would have to stick to it. There was no turning back now. All she could do was trust that Artemis knew what he was doing and help him get there. The race was on.

She looked over at Artemis again.

"Don't die Artemis."

Artemis moaned a little and shifted in his sleep.


	8. Chapter 8: When It Rains it Pours

**Well… Its been a while hasn't it? I'm sorry it took so long to update :/. I was scrolling through my stories folder yesterday and - hey, look at that - there's an entire story I didn't finish here. I completely forgot about it XD. So, sorry about that. Thank you all for being patient. Life just kinda caught up to me there.**

**Please keep up the reviews. This chapter gets a bit hairy so hang in there.**

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Finland

The shuttle moved swiftly over the forested land. As dawn approached and grey light filtered in from the east, the shuttle passed over northern Ostrobothnia. Inside the shuttle, Artemis was awake and staring intently at the navigation screen. There were dark rings around his eyes and though the temperature in the shuttle was fairly warm, the occasional shiver would run through his frame.

Holly piloted the shuttle as Artemis led them over a dense forest somewhere within the Syöte National Park. She glanced worriedly at Artemis every now and then. Artemis did not look up, his eyes were glued to the navi-screen. Holly bit her lip and returned her gaze to the landscape of mountainous forest in front of her.

"Turn 20 degrees to the east." Said Artemis in a flat voice.

Holly turned the shuttle to the correct heading and settled back, waiting. She was deeply concerned. Since Artemis had awoken he had become increasingly withdrawn. Now he hardly even acknowledged her presence. It was as though he were in another world, listening and seeing things that only he could sense.

They flew onwards, Artemis occasionally realigning their position until they reached the heart of a dense forest. They were in the valley of two mountains which sat to their left and right. Artemis motioned towards a small clear patch in the sea of green.

"That's where we need to go."

Holly nodded and piloted the shuttle down towards the small clearing. They cleared the line of trees and the shuttle settled on to the ground at the far edge of the large clearing. Holly pulled out the ignition chip and powered down the shuttle.

"We're here." She said simply.

Artemis nodded. His eyes were glazed over again and he looked far away. Holly went past him into the back of the shuttle and opened up some of the equipment lockers.

"Any idea how far this thing is?" she asked.

It took Artemis a few minutes to reply. He shook his head, his eyes still slightly unfocused. He walked back to where holly was standing.

"I don't know." He said truthfully. "I'm going by feeling right now."

"Great." Said Holly sarcastically, hoisting a bulky pack down from one of the racks in front of her. "Better be safe than sorry."

Holly began checking the bag. It was a standard survival pack similar to the ones used by the LEP. It had basic navigation and survival gear. In addition to her helmet, nutrino, and moonbelt it gave her a set of wings, an additional nutrino, a weeks dehydrated food, water purifier, and long range radio amongst other things. She began unpacking the gear, double checking it for defects.

"Artemis get one of these packs and check the equipment."

There was no reply. Holly looked up frowning. Artemis wasn't in the back room.

"Artemis?"

Holly walked back to the front of the shuttle. Artemis was there standing next to the open shuttle door, gazing out at the swaying grass and trees in front of him. He seemed oblivious to the chilly air that was wafting in from the open door. Holly put a hand on Artemis's shoulder.

"Artemis? What are you doing? Come back and help me get the packs ready."

Artemis did not immediately respond but continued to stare out across the grassy clearing.

"Its close." He said.

And then without warning he leapt down the steps and took off across the clearing, heading for the wall of trees to the right of the shuttle.

"Artemis! D'arvit!" Cursed Holly.

She rushed back into the shuttle and grabbed the halfway unpacked survival gear, swinging the strap over her shoulders. She darted out of the shuttle following Artemis Across the clearing.

O-O-O-O

Haven

Foaly was pacing again. There was a well worn track of scuffs in the linoleum - remnants of many a nervous adventure with Holly and Artemis. He paused for a moment in his pacing to look across the room to the screen of the computer. Still empty. He had been unable to get into contact with Holy since she had left in the shuttle. She might have even activated the shuttles signal blocker. At the moment the best he could do was wait and hope.

Damn Artemis and this Foul illness.

_A foul illness for a Fowl boy. _Thought Foaly ruefully.

He shook his head in agitation. He was tired and his mind was plagued by stupid, frivolous thoughts.

He snorted with frustration. If only he had been able to diagnose this illness from the start then maybe they wouldn't be in this mess right now. It was so familiar too. Like a word right on the tip of his tongue. But for the life of him, he couldn't place it. It couldn't be any of the innumerable mud men diseases that he had come up with: Artemis had already done extensive research into those. It couldn't be any of the magical ones either by the simple reasoning that Artemis would have to have magic to catch one. Of course he could have caught one from Holly, but then Holly would have had to have the same disease (or at the very least be a carrier for it) and the tests showed nothing.

_Things would almost be easier if Artemis __**did**__ have magic, _thought Foaly._ At least then I wouldn't be stuck in this conundrum. How on earth do you lose your magic anyways?_

And then it clicked. Everything fit together, like the doors in Foaly's brain had been thrown open. The question that had been sitting at the edge of his conscious since Artemis had arrived: how do you lose magic? Is it even possible?

_No, _reasoned Foaly. _No, its not. Nobody can "lose" magic, they just run out of it. And what happens when a Fairy runs out of magic? They have to recharge. But, if they don't… If they stay on empty for too long…_

Everything fit - Artemis saying that he had expended all of his magic in the failed attempt to heal his mother, Quan finding only echoes of magic in Artemis's system, the pain, his reaction to Holly's magic. Everything was there. It was so obvious that Foaly could not believe that he had overlooked it. Artemis was suffering from a rare and dangerous fairy disease: Magicacareo. The lack of magic. It caused complete havoc on a fairies system; slowly tearing them apart from the inside out. It was a grisly disease and one of the main reasons the council had instituted the required surface trips for all fairies.

Even before that, though, the disease had been uncommon. It required the fairy in question to be absolutely devoid of a spark of magic. Not just dry - empty, gone, nothing. Even in their most barren state, most fairies were never completely devoid of magic. They might not be able to use it, but it was still within them. Being completely empty meant that the fairy had put themselves so completely into the act of magic that they actively forced the essence of magic from themselves. Foaly had to admit that he was impressed that Artemis had accomplished this.

Suddenly, Foaly felt relived. He had figured out what was wrong with Artemis, he was sure of it. And the cure was relatively easy too. In theory, Artemis just had to perform a fairy ritual to renew his magic.

Then, just as quickly as it had come, his elation faded. Artemis and Holly were hundreds of miles away from anyone who could help them right now. How was he supposed to tell them? Given the state of Artemis's condition if something was not done soon it would be too late.

Foaly swiveled around and returned to the computers, attacking the communications with a renewed vigor. This was no longer about simply finding Holly or appeasing Vinyáya and the council. Artemis's life was at stake.

O-O-O-O

Finland

Holly crashed through the low underbrush as she pursued Artemis through the trees.

"Artemis Stop!" Holly gasped.

Artemis did not even acknowledge that he had heard her, but continued to run ahead of her, blind to all else but what was in front of him. Holly sprinted around an outcropping of rock and followed him deeper into the forest. As she ran her foot snagged on something and she tumbled onto the earthy forest floor. Frustrated, she whipped around to see what had caused her to trip. There in the ground, almost obscured by vines, was a small metal pole with an orange band on the top. Looking closer, Holly realized that it was one of the L.E.P.'s disruption poles that had been placed to protect the forest. The vines almost entirely obscured its surface and several had worked their way into the top were the transmitter was located, deactivating it. Holly, was bewildered: to her knowledge nothing like this had ever happened. It was almost as if the forest was fighting against the disrupter on purpose.

She looked back up to discover that Artemis was no longer in sight.

"D'arvit!" cursed Holly. She didn't have time to dwell on the pole. She filed the information away in her head and then sprinted into the trees, following the path of torn branches Artemis had left behind.

Further into the forest, Artemis continued to stumble over the rough terrain as he followed Yggdrasil's pull. All the while the great oaks voice thrummed through his head: "Come. Come. Come…". Artemis knew that he should slow his pace and wait for Holly, but the pull was too strong. It clouded his thinking and made his actions involuntary. All around him the trees stretched higher and higher as he neared his destination. Then Yggdrasil's powerful thoughts entered Artemis's mind.

_Wait._ He commanded.

Artemis slowed to a stop, his breath coming in short painful bursts.

_You have been followed. I did not ask you to bring someone with you. The elf is not welcome here. You must make her leave._

Artemis sat on the ground panting. His whole will was opposed leaving Holly behind. He wanted her with him.

_Why?_ asked Artemis. _Why can't Holly come with me? She's my friend._

_She is not welcome here. _repeated Yggdrasil. _This is a journey for you to make alone. I did not condone her presence here. She is an intruder to the forest._

Artemis struggled to collect his scattered thoughts. It was so hard to concentrate.

_She's one of your people. _Argued Artemis. He could not understand why Yggdrasil had an issue with Holly's presence. _Surely you would allow fairies here?_

_They are not welcome. They have been tampering with the natural order. They are better than humans true, but I will not allow them to interfere with my forest again. You will make the elf leave._

_I can't. She will follow me anyways. _Artemis knew Holly would follow him no matter what. He clutched his fists tight so that his fingernails left marks in his palms.

_You must find a way. She will fall to great harm if she stays here._

Artemis felt his will being drained from him. "No" he said weakly. Surely there was another way. He did not want Holly to leave; he needed her. But he didn't want her to get hurt either. He heard footsteps coming up from behind him. Quickly making a decision, he turned to face Holly as she raced out from behind the trees.

O-O-O-O

Foaly didn't think he had ever typed so quickly in his whole life. He had had to switch from his beloved antique mudman keyboard to a virtual one after breaking one of the keys. It didn't matter though. The only thing that was important right now was finding Holly and Artemis so that he could tell them about what he had learned.

Foaly continued to type furiously, trying to locate the signal from the stolen shuttle. As he worked, the light above the door turned red. He turned and looked at the door cam. Commander Vinyáya was standing at the door, but this time she was flanked by a squad of LEP techies as well as her guard.

_What now? _Sighed Foaly, flipping the switch for the mike.

"Hello Commander." Said Foaly. "Did you need something? I'm working very hard right now on trying to find Holly."

"I need to speak with you Foaly. So if you would be so kind as to open the door…"

Foaly punched his key code into the number lock beside the door and the door slid open. As soon as the door was open the techies swarmed into the booth, going strait to the computers.

"Wha… Commander! What's going on?" Demanded Foaly agitatedly.

"We're taking over the tech booth Foaly." Replied Vinyáya calmly.

"I don't understand. Why are you doing this? What right do you have to just barge in here like this?"

"Look Foaly, this is out of my hands. The decision just came down from council. Because there has been no contact with Holly she has been named a missing person. You know how the council is - they tend to see in black and white. They believe that Artemis tricked Holly into coming along with him and they are assuming him as her kidnaper."

"That's ridiculous!" Said Foaly in outrage. "How does any of this affect me anyways? Why do you need to liberate my tech booth from me?"

Vinyáya gave Foaly a pained look.

"Because Foaly," she said " You are friends with both Holly and Artemis. The council doesn't want you to be involved right now. They think that its possible that you might be conspiring against the fairy people with Artemis."

Foaly was spewing protests when the commander held up her hand.

"I know it's preposterous Foaly, believe me I know. But I can't do anything about that right now. Listen to me Foaly. I'm not here to bring you in you. You are going to be placed under house arrest. I am to escort you to your home and you are not allowed to leave the premises. However, you can do as you wish while there. Do you understand me?"

Foaly did understand. He had access to his computers and technology at home as well. He would still be able to continue his search for Holly while there. And while he hated the idea of leaving his booth unattended in the hands of those slack-jawed LEP techies, It would be best for everyone if he were to cooperate for the moment.

Foaly nodded, gritting his teeth. "I do."

Commander Vinyáya led him out of the door and towards a waiting car. Foaly looked behind him, letting out an involuntary whimper when he saw one of the squads members accidentally knock his keyboard to the floor.

"I'm sorry about all this Foaly" said Vinyáya sincerely.

"Just make sure the place is still in one piece when your boys are done with it" Said Foaly with a grimace.

O-O-O-O

Artemis turned to face Holly as she emerged from the trees, his mind racing as he tried to figure out what to do.

"Artemis! There you are." Said Holly with relief. "I had to run through half the forest to catch up to you. Why did you just leave like that? I was worried about you."

"Holly, I need you to go back to the shuttle." Said Artemis quietly.

"What?" Holly frowned. "You know I can't do that Artemis. I told you I'd follow you through with this and I'm keeping that promise. Besides," she said grinning, "you need me around to make sure you don't get into trouble."

Artemis's lip twitched into a half smile before his face hardened.

"I need to do this alone Holly. You would only slow me down."

"Artemis, what's wrong?" Asked Holly in concern "I'm not going to leave you alone out here. You crashed into my room last night begging me to go with you and now you want me to leave? You know me better than to ask something like that. Friends look out for each other yeah? Come on, what's bothering you?"

Yggdrasil's voice echoed through Artemis's head. _Make the fairy leave. She will be in danger here if she stays._

Artemis didn't have a choice. He had to get Holly out of here. Time was running out.

"Friends… Yes, friends look out for each other, but we are not friends Holly."

Even as he said them, Artemis cringed inwardly at his words. How could he say such things to Holly. Holly, his closest friend in the world.

"What are you talking about Artemis?" asked Holly, looking confused. "Of course we're friends. Look, if you're worried about that whole thing with your mom, don't be. I understand why you did what you did. I probably would have done the same thing. It's over and done with. You're tired Artemis, and you need to rest. Lets go back to the shuttle and…"

"I'm not going back Holly. I'm going on. Alone. You can't come with me."

"I don't understand why you are acting like this!" Said Holly, losing patience. "Is it something I did? What's happening to you? You keep growing more and more distant and now you're trying to push me away."

_I can't do this. _Thought Artemis miserably. _I can't drive her away from me._

But, all the while the voice ran through his head. _Make her leave. Make her leave…_

Holly waited for Artemis to respond. She saw Artemis groan and sink to the ground, holding his head in his hands. Her expression softened.

"I care about you Artemis." She said, walking up next to him. "I care a lot about you. And I'll always be here to help you, just like I know you will always help me. We'll work through this together just like we did all the other times."

She held out her hand to help Artemis up, but Artemis didn't take it. He remained where he was. Holly could tell something important was bothering him. She just needed him to open up.

"You know," Holly said, blushing slightly at what she was about to say, "you mean more to me than anyone else right now. I've seen you go through so much and you always manage to come out on the other end. You'll get through this too."

She paused, but Artemis did not look up. She knelt down next to him and placed an arm around his shoulder.

"That time you almost died at the zoo…" she said, looking down - why was she bringing this up now? She thought. "I was so afraid that you had died. When I saw that you were alive I… I just felt so happy. Happier than I should have been. I was happy because I didn't have to lose you like I did my mom or Commander Root. I don't think I could stand it if I lost you. If it means anything to you…" she was now blushing hard, "…the kiss I gave you really meant something to me. And you really mean something to me Artemis"

She turned and Smiled at him

Artemis felt like his heart was going to explode in his chest. He didn't know that he meant so much to Holly. A miniature war waged inside of him. He couldn't make her leave. It would not be fair to hurt her again. It would not be human. But…

No. He had to. He had to get her out of here.

_Maybe I could find a way to convince Yggdrasil to let her stay_. He thought. But deep down he knew that wasn't going to happen.

Artemis groaned. His feverish mind could not make sense of these arguments right now. Only one thought stuck out: He had to. Holly had to be safe. He could not live with himself if something were to happen to her. But, he might be able to bear the guilt and pain of what he was about to say if it ensured Holly's safety.

He had to…

Holly was waiting patiently for Artemis when he turned to her. He looked right through her, speaking in a flat voice.

"The kiss meant nothing."

Holly felt the world come to a halt. Even the windy forest around them seemed to come to a standstill.

"Wha… What do you mean?" She stuttered, taking her arm off of Artemis.

"The kiss. It meant nothing." He said in the same dead voice. "It never meant anything. None of it ever meant anything. We are acquaintances, that's all. There was never anything there."

Holly stood and stepped away from Artemis slowly, tears running down her cheek. It felt as though something in her chest had just shattered.

"But… all those times. All the time we spent together…"

"…Meant nothing. You were just a convenient solution to various problems."

Holly continued to back away from Artemis, trying to escape his words that were cutting into her like knives.

"I don't… I can't…" She said incoherently.

Her brain was frozen. She couldn't think so she latched on to the first stray thought that entered her mind.

"I came and got you!" She choked. "I saved your life! And you've saved mine too. You can't tell me that didn't mean anything!"

"It didn't."

Artemis's words struck her like a blow. All this time! All this time she had been mistaken about Artemis. How could she have ever imagined that there could be something between them; that there could be anything good about him. Deep down he was cold and heartless and only ever used people for his own good. She should have known that! But no, she had managed to convince herself that Artemis cared about her. It was all a lie!

A strangled sob escaped her lips and her knees felt weak. And suddenly she felt furious.

"I hate you!" she screamed at Artemis, tears streaming down her already wet cheeks. "I wish I had never met you!" You are the worst most manipulative person I have ever met! How dare you do this to me after all that we've gone through!"

She glared at him, teeth barred, but Artemis continued to sit with his head down, not even looking at her. Rage built inside her

"I am never helping you again! You can rot in this forest for all I care. I hope I never see you again!"

Artemis's dead voice carried over to her, so quiet that she almost couldn't hear.

"So be it."

Holly chocked back a sob. Her vision blurred with tears. She turned and fled into the forest, not caring which direction she was going. She ran as hard as she could, trying to outrun the pain that threatened to rip her apart - leaving a trail of tears and curses behind her.

Artemis did not move. He sat very still for a long time, Holly's last words ringing in his ears in the still aftermath of the fight. A drop fell onto the earthen ground. Then two. Then more. And as his shoulders began to shake, the sound of Artemis's sobs blended into that of the rain's as it continued to pour.


End file.
